Tel Aviv, Hadar Yosef

Aviva Bouchenino

10/04/2006

Final Report

During June–July 2004 a salvage excavation was conducted on Qehilat Lodz Street in Tel Aviv (Permit No. A-4206*; map ref. NIG 1830-2/6681-4; OIG 1330-2/1681-4), following an antiquities inspection during the demolition of a modern house when a large amount of potsherds and scant architectural remains were discovered. The excavation, on behalf of the Antiquities Authority and financed by Y. Menashewitz, was directed by A. Bouchenino, with the assistance of A. Hajian (surveying), T. Sagiv (photography), M. Shuiskaya-Arnov (pottery drawing), O. Shorr (pottery restoration) and I. Berin (drafting).

Two half squares were opened (A, B; Fig. 1). A meager section of a wall (W10; Fig. 2) in Square A may have lined a Hellenistic pit, which was destroyed in the Byzantine period and severely damaged by construction in the modern era. A fill that contained fragments of pottery vessels was uncovered in Square B. The ceramic finds from both squares consisted of numerous potsherds from the Hellenistic period, including many bowls (Fig. 3:1–11), fragments of cooking pots and kraters (Fig. 3:12, 13), jars (Fig. 3:14–16), one of which was in situ (No. 16; Sq B, L200), Rhodian amphorae (Fig. 3:17, 18), an amphora (Fig. 3:19) and two oil lamps (Fig. 4), as well as finds from the Byzantine period, e.g., fragments of cooking pots and lids (Fig. 5:1, 2) and jars (Fig. 5:3–7).

Several archaeological excavations had previously been conducted nearby, revealing a Middle Bronze Age II tomb, a Roman and Byzantine site that included winepresses and buildings, as well as a refuse pit from the Byzantine period (HA-ESI 117).